Montgomery and Chester counties have been listed among the 10 counties with the highest numbers of lives saved by Naloxone, according to recent statistics.

As of March 23, the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs reports 177 successful overdose reversals with the drug by Montgomery County police officers and 126 saves by Chester County officers. In the immediate southeast section of the state, Montgomery and Chester counties follow closely after Delaware, Bucks and Philadelphia counties in terms of lives saved. Those counties totaled 1,328, or 43 percent, of all saves in the state.

There have been approximately 3,000 successful reversals by officers in the commonwealth since the enactment of David’s Law in late 2014 that gave legal clearance for law enforcement agencies to administer naloxone. David’s Law, also known as Act 139 of 2014, was the first bill of the state legislature to become law to allow police officers, and other previously restricted emergency personnel, to administer the prescription-only naloxone free of liability, and to provide immunity for people who call in an overdose. The bill was created by former state senator and current county Common Pleas Court Judge Dominic Pileggi to increase public access to the life-saving drug amidst a growing epidemic.

Opioid- and heroin-related overdoses have been increasing in the state and county according to annual reports released by the Pennsylvania State Coroners Association. Drug deaths increased from 2,500 to 3,500 from 2014 to 2015 according to the coroners’ 2015 report on overdose statistics. Of the 3,500, heroin was found in 55 percent of all overdoses, with 30 percent involving some kind of illegal drug and 28 percent involving opioids.

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Although the information did not delineate between saves from municipal department officers and those of Pennsylvania state troopers in mixed-coverage counties, county records show Pennsylvania State Police were credited with 71 saves throughout the state, according to the state.

Some 74 percent of the state’s estimated 9.5 million population is in areas fully covered by police departments that carry naloxone for potential overdoses. Bradford, Lawrence, Montour and Forest counties are reported to have no police departments carrying naloxone, but are preparing to launch naloxone programs within the next few months.

After Delco, York and Bucks counties had the next highest reversal numbers in the state with 365 and 263, respectively, with Allegheny and Philadelphia rounding out the top five with their respective totals of 221 and 217.

The southeast Pennsylvania region – including Berks and Schuylkill counties – had the highest concentration of drug toxicities in 2015 with 1,511 of 3,500. Without Berks and Schuylkill, the number is 1,336. In Delaware County, the numbers peaked at 206 in 2015 over 147 in 2014. Numbers for 2016 have not yet been released.

After municipal police officers and the Pennsylvania State Police, Gov. Tom Wolf announced on April 12 that 300 state park and state forest rangers will also be trained and equipped to administer naloxone in on the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources grounds. The department reports seven drug-related deaths in their state parks and forests since 2015.

“First responders across the commonwealth have saved more than 3,000 lives using naloxone,” Department of Health Secretary Karen Murphy said. “Knowing that all state park rangers will now have this medication and are trained to use it adds another opportunity for us to save lives and get people into treatment.”